03 MARCH 2015

Santa Cruz’ Past Guevara To Retain Title

Guevara and Santa_Cruz battle

Professional boxing returned to the CBS Television Network on Saturday afternoon for the first time in 15 years. Showtime boxing on CBS, saw unbeaten Leo Santa Cruz cap a successful year by retaining his International IBF Bantamweight title with closely contested 12-round unanimous decision win over previously unbeaten Alberto Guevara at theLos Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

Santa Cruz (23-0-1, 13 KO’s), of Los Angeles, won the lone bout on the CBS broadcast, the network’s first since Bernard Hopkins knocked out Glen Johnson on Jan. 20, 1997, by the scores of 119-109, 118-110 and 116-112.

Guevara(16-1, 6 KO’s) of San Diego, Calif., made it close for six rounds but couldn’t sustain his momentum as Santa Cruz came on strongly to close the show.

Santa Cruz was making the third defense of the IBF 118-pound title he won with a 12-round decision over Vusi Malinga last June 2.

The 24-year-old Santa Cruz didn’t dominate Guevara like he did the previous two challengers, but credit goes to Guevara for taking the aggressive Santa Cruz out of his game plan – at least for a while. It also didn’t help Santa Cruz that he hurt his right hand.

“I want to thank Al Haymon, Golden Boy and all of my supporters because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to fight on CBS,” Santa Cruz said. “I’m sorry I didn’t give as good of a show today. I felt a little different. I couldn’t breathe after the third round, so I had to breathe through my mouth. I messed up my right hand in sparring -- that’s why I moved to southpaw.

“I usually throw more body shots, but he was running too much. I have been fighting a lot in the last several months and didn’t give my body enough time to rest.”

Guevara was fighting for the first time outside his native Mexico. His plan from the outset was to not allow the defending champ to dictate the pace. He was successful for much of the early rounds.

“I think I did great. I was very tough for him,” Guevara, a virtual unknown coming in, said. “Leo is very good, very tough and very strong. I know I hurt him in the 12th round, but he hurt me in the fifth.

“I said that I was going to be in there and not run around. I had to stay with my style and box. I felt like I trained for one and a half men. They called us for the fight three weeks ago.”

“It felt great to turn pro,” said Diaz, a southpaw who triumphed by the scores of 40-35 on all three scorecards. “I need to get my timing down as a professional, but overall it was a great experience. It was great motivation to fight in my hometown of LA. I wanted to put on a good show and I think I did.